Fighting Terrorism through Anti Drug Investigations

The two units that prosecute federal terrorism and international narcotics cases in New York have been merged. The Terrorism and National Security Unit and the International Narcotics Trafficking Unit were merged " to more aggressively combat the threat America faces from the growing nexus between narcotics and terrorism." Extremist Islamic groups are believed to be involved in the drug trade in order to finance their illicit activities with the decline of state-sponsored terrorism and the need for terrorist groups to finance their own activities. Subsequent cases have confirmed this suspicion.

In One case, suspects overseas conspired to provide hundreds of kilograms of heroin to men they believed were associated with Hezbollah, but who were actually working as DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration informants. In another case, defendants agreed to sell both kilogram-quantities of heroin and automatic weapons to a DEA confidential informant in Kandahar. The DEA informant represented that the heroin was going to be sent to the United States for resale, and that the heroin proceeds and the weapons would ultimately be given to the Taliban.

The need for terrorist groups to turn to drug trafficking and kidnapping is due in part to increased pressure on other means of financial support, such as Islamic charities and private donors. By merging the terrorism and narcotics units, two investigative units are combined that possess similar skills in working abroad in hostile environments, using classified information in their operations, and the ability to build complex cases against sophisticated targets, which are difficult to identify and prosecute.

A new federal law gives drug agents the authority to pursue narcotics trafficking and crimes of terrorism crimes committed anywhere in the world. If they can establish a link between the drug offense and terrorist act or group. Terrorist groups operate in an underworld where it is difficult to determine the source of its money to supports its operations. "Terrorist and insurgents are increasingly turning to crime to generate funding and acquire logistical support," according to the U.S. Assistant Attorney General. The proceeds from these crimes subsidize terror group training, travel, weapons, and actual operations.

In another case, Mannor Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U.S. passports, admitted to conspiring with officials in the Iranian military, to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador while the Ambassador was in the United States. Arbabsiar acknowledged that he traveled to Mexico on several occasions to arrange the assassination of the Ambassador. With his co-conspirators, he unwittingly hired a DEA confidential source who claimed to be a representative of a drug cartel. Arbabsiar agreed to pay $1.5 million to the DEA informant and discussed a plan to murder the Ambassador at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. illustrating the overlap of drug trafficking activity to help support terrorist objectives.

Past cases show that it is unusual for senior leaders of terrorist groups to be involved in the actual trafficking of drugs, much in the same way that leaders of organized crime and drug trafficking groups work to distance themselves from hand to hand transactions in an effort to insulate themselves from detection and prosecution. Therefore, a combined focus on drug and terrorism cases might reveal possible overlapping connections earlier in an investigation.

Question:

What contrary arguments can be made that this approach may narrow the investigative effort against terrorism, resulting in more missed cases?